EYEHEARTZOMBIES

I woke up the next day nice and early. After a much-needed shower — I felt that I couldn’t wash all of the blood off of me — and a shave, I walked down the corner store and called Ray again. He wasn’t home, but his wife told me that he was already at the office. I thanked her, hung up, and decided to get some food before I went in. There was a little diner, kind of like the one last night, about three blocks away, on the way to work, and I thought I’d stop in there for a quick bite.

The diner was in that perpetual state of busy that I’m sure their owners just love. There was a booth open, and a few stools at the counter, but most of the rest were occupied by people. I saw cops and firefighters, a pair of dime-a-dance hookers from the pay ballroom a few blocks away, more truck drivers than you could shake a stick at, and other people that I couldn’t stick in a group.

I looked around, trying to decide if I wanted a booth or to sit next to someone at the counter. I was about to opt for the counter when I saw Max sitting in a booth toward the back. I paused for a second, unsure if I should approach him or not, and then decided to go for it. I walked back to where he was and stood beside the table. I ahemed and he looked at me, a bit surprised.

“Hi, Max,” I said. “Mind if I sit with you?” I smiled at him, even though he was giving me the creeps for some reason.

“Uh. Sure. Go ahead and sit,” he said, pointing at the bench across from him. I sat and snatched out a menu from behind the spotted and greasy napkin holder. I looked at it’s dirty, laminated lists of food like it was a titty magazine and I hadn’t seen a woman in weeks. Everything sounded amazing this morning. Maybe it was the excitement of the night before. I’ve never had that sense of…hunger…again, though, so I don’t know for sure.

“The, uh, the coffee’s really good,” Max muttered, not looking up from the notebook he was flipping through. I glanced up at the sound of his voice and noticed he had hardly touched his food. He had ordered a plate of scrambled eggs, some toast and jam, a couple of sausage links, and the “really good” coffee. Didn’t look like he had drank much of that, either. He noticed me looking at his still full plate, smiled a sheepish smile, and took a big bite of eggs. He chewed mechanically and swallowed a few seconds later. It all looked very uncomfortable.

“Yeah. I’ve had that before. I’m so damn hungry today. Not sure why. Maybe I’ll have some waffles.”

The waitress came by, a cute redhead with a short skirt. I was suddenly hit with equally gaping hungers not in my stomach and I stared for a few moments. Finally I folded up the menu and told her my order. She smiled at me, jotted a few things down, then walked off to get the coffee pot.

“She’s cute,” I said to Max, hoping to start some — any — conversation. He just grunted in reply and I gave up for the time being. She came back — her nametag said Cindy — and poured some coffee into the cup already sitting on my side of the table. When it was full, I thanked her and she smiled at me again. When she walked away, I noticed her glancing over her shoulder at me. She smiled again when she saw me watching her walk away and blushed.

Max and I sat there, in silence, for at least five minutes. I watched cars drive by on the street outside and a couple of people pull into the narrow parking stalls for the diner. I swapped views between Max and the outdoors until I couldn’t take it any longer.

“You ever going to say anything or just keep your nose buried in that pile of words?” I said it a bit louder than I meant to and Max jumped a little.

“Wh — What?” he said.

“That book. You’ve had your nose buried in it since I sat down. Aren’t you even going to talk to me?”

“You joined me, remember,” Max asked. “If you want conversation, try someone at the bar. He went back to reading whatever was in his notebook. I sat there for a few more minutes, then slid out of the booth, picked up my coffee cup and saucer, and walked over to one of the empty stools at the counter. I caught Cindy’s eye and pointed to the stainless steel pole and padded seat, letting her know I was sitting here now. She nodded and smiled a little smile again.

I sat there, still not talking to anyone, watching Max over the top of my coffee cup when I took a sip. He was still just sitting there, reading, occasionally writing something down.

Cindy brought my breakfast before too long. Bacon, fried eggs, hashbrowns, and four pieces of toast, lightly browned. I started eating right away, ravenous from the night before (or whatever had caused this pit in my stomach). It didn’t take me long to shovel my way through the plate of food in front of me and a couple of cups of coffee. It was really good coffee, too, not like I expected. I ordered a piece of chocolate pie after I had finished with breakfast. I ate the pie more slowly, then sat and drank another cup of coffee.

Max still hadn’t moved from his spot and hadn’t touched any more of his food. I was a little worried about my old friend. I started wondering if he had gotten himself in trouble at school or something. Maybe he failed a class or knocked some mouse up. I didn’t want him to fail at what he obviously wanted so badly, but I didn’t know of anyway to help him.

I got up to pay and Cindy walked over to the register to check me out. She rang it up and took my money, handing me my change slowly so our hands touched for a second. She smiled at me and said softly, “I get off at three. Why don’t you stop by then?” I smiled and nodded. I walked out of the diner after dropping a fifty cent tip for her on the counter.

I walked down the street, happy with thoughts of girls and money. When I got to the office, I went in and found Ray sitting in the lobby. He looked worried and I asked him what was wrong.

“Oh. Nothing. Nothing you need to worry about, anyway. So, how did it go last night? Manuel and Lucca told me their ends of it, but both of those are pretty lacking. What happened with Simon?”

“Simon got — well, gut shot. Wasn’t really anything I could do. I killed the bastard that got him, though. His name was Ricky, I think. Yeah, that’s what the other guy said. Did Lucca tell you about him? The guy in the van?”

“Yes, Lucca told me about him last night. We sent some people over and they took care of everything. Nothing left for you to worry about. Oh, and Lucca left you something.” He pulled out a brown bag and handed it to me. It was heavy. “Your share of the money you guys found in the car. One thousand even. We gave you clean money, too, just in case. Small bills.” He looked a bit troubled at giving me the money.

“Hey! Thanks, Ray.” I sat the bag down on the floor and sat in one of the chairs next to Ray. “So, last night. It went well. We watched the place until they all arrived, or at least as many as we cared to have there, and then we went in. The place couldn’t have been set up better for us; van blocking the back garage door, two unmanned alleys, no lights. It was perfect. They almost found us out, but Lucca and his shotgun took care of that. Simon and I went in to get rid of the rest of ‘em. The first one we met, Simon cold-cocked, but he wasn’t out all the and he shot at us. Got me in the shoulder, so I shot him. Three times.” I looked at Ray at this point, but he was just watching me. I went on.

“Simon ran ahead while I shot the first guy. He followed another one, Ricky, up the stairs. I guess Ricky got the drop on him and shot Simon in the stomach. I followed up the stairs as fast as I could and Simon told me he had ran on upstairs. Seems like a stupid thing to me, but that’s what he did. I ran after him to the fourth floor. He tried to brain me with a knockout stick but I ducked and tackled him. We rolled around and he threw my gun away from me. He was going to kill me, but I managed to knock him down again. And then I killed him.”

“How did you kill him?”

“I, uh, I beat him to death. With a, uh, two-by-four. I didn’t really realize what I was doing at the time, but…well, that’s what I did.”

Ray was staring at me, his eyes glowing. He had a half-smile on his face and he seemed a little glazed over.

“Ray?” I said. I said it again, louder. He startled a bit, then smiled.

“Sorry, I was just picturing it. I always wanted to do the glamorous bits, the strong arm stuff. I just wasn’t cut out for it.”

“It’s not all that glamorous,” I said. “It’s pretty dirty, really.” He didn’t seem to believe me, so I went ahead with my story. “So, then I went back down and saw that Simon had died. I couldn’t really do anything for him, but I closed his eyes and did what I could. Then I went out and found Lucca with the last guy. I never did find out what his name was…. If I did, I don’t remember it, anyway. We found out nothing from him, but we put him in the van for safe-keeping anyway. I guess your guys got more out of him when they picked him up. Anyway, that’s about it. We just came home afterward.”

Ray nodded. “You like doing this? The killing and all?” He looked at me with a strange mixture. He seemed to find the idea truly exciting and disgusting at the same time. I’ve seen this mix on the faces of several of the bosses. It’s dangerous, in it’s own way.

“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I don’t like killing any more than anyone else, but I don’t hate the work. It’s…exciting. It’s a thrill like no other.” I stared down at my shoes, suddenly embarrassed. “I can’t really understand it all, Ray. I just like doing it. Why?”

“Well, some of the boys we’ve had before have wanted to quit when they saw how it all goes. They wanted out after the first drop of blood. We let ‘em out. No way we can keep ‘em in, if they really want to go.” He paused.

“I don’t want to go, Ray! I like it here. You’re all I have.” I felt like crying — big man I am, huh? — at the thought of leaving my home for the past seven years of my life. “I like this job.”

“I know you do, kid. I never really thought you’d be one to leave. I was just making sure.” He stood up and handed me a rubber band-bound stack of bills. “Here’s your pay for last night. Be careful with it.”

I thanked him, got up and left. I was suddenly rich, richer than I had ever thought possible back when living with my old man and my mom. I did what any newly-rich young man did. I spent it.